Dwight Yorke has made a passionate plea to get the Aston Villa job - and this time he is hoping to at least get a reply.
Yorke was blanked last time he applied as he fears black managers are simply not getting the same opportunities as the likes of fledgling bosses Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and even Gareth Southgate.
Villa legend Yorke put in his CV to the club on Thursday and believes he has the experience, coaching qualifications and even backing from Sir Alex Ferguson to get them back into the Premier League.
Yorke said: “I know I can go in there, play good football and get them promoted. When I see Villa struggling, I want to help. People associate me with Man United but Villa is where it all started for me.
“I’ve got a burning ambition, so much belief and commitment. I’ve got a connection with the fans and surely having that rapport will give you a massive advantage.
“I’ve seen the club suffer the disappointments, the heartache and the pain. There’s been too many changes, too many wrong appointments for me to turn my back on it.
“We have to make sure Villa gets back where it belongs. It’s a great club. The whole place, the fans, everyone, needs something different, a fresh start and I feel I can give that excitement at the club.
“I’ve got a recommendation from Sir Alex. I’ve got his backing and he says that if I need his support then he’s on the end of the phone. He wouldn’t say that unless he believed I could do the job.
“I’m sitting in Dubai, if you could see the view from my apartment then you’d think I was nuts, but I’d love to get into management. I wouldn’t go anywhere near it unless I thought I could do the job.
“Villa, to me, seem like they need something new. I sent my CV in, but I’m not sure if it’ll be read or looked at.”
Yorke applied for the job at Villa before ex-Manchester United team mate Steve Bruce got it last time and, incredibly, they did not even reply let alone give him an interview.
Former Villa striker Yorke won the Treble with Manchester United , was part of Fergie’s greatest success story and yet other former players are given their chance while he has been overlooked apart from one brief stint as assistant manager of Trinidad and Tobago.
Yorke is convinced that English football is still not giving black coaches a fair chance when it comes to management considering Gerrard got Rangers, Lampard’s first job was at Derby and ex-Villa team mate Southgate began at Middlesbrough before getting his coaching badges.
Yorke said: “I applied for the job before Brucie, didn’t even get a response let alone an interview. Having played there for ten years and I felt I knew how I could do the job.
“Before Brucie got the job, I went for it, I made it public I was interested but as soon as he got it I backed off as I’ve got respect for him as a man and a manager. But I had been upset by Remi Garde, Tim Sherwood, McLeish and none of them seemed suited to the job.
“These guys have been given the opportunity with very little knowledge or experience of the situation.
“But I keep coming up short, people think I’m still young but I’ve been round the block and I’m bloody 47! Other people get chances and something is not right. I speak to others in the game and it’s clearly not right.
“I don’t want to go down that road but it’s evident that there’s a barrier and people don’t speak out enough.
“The more I talk to people, I came across Sol Campbell in the last week or so, and he was interviewed for Oxford and Grimsby, with his profile you think they’d snap him up but at least he got an interview.
“Because of the kind of relationship I had with the fans, I know what it takes. Lampard got a job, Gerrard got a job. What have they done more than me?
“At least if I got an interview, then I’d get some feedback. But nothing. Then the same names keep on cropping up. We come a time as players when we have to retire.
“I feel there should be something similar for managers because you get the same old names coming round again and no young managers coming through.
“I’ve got the qualifications. I’ve spoken to Gareth Southgate, I played with him at Villa, and he went into management without qualifications. He didn’t have anything. Roy Keane the same. I have nothing against Gareth at all, but at least they took a chance with him.
“Andy Cole refused to do his badges because he says to me: ‘Dwight, you ain’t getting nowhere.’
“I don’t like to say it but there’s a truth about it. Ask me why I wouldn’t get an interview for Villa? I’m looking at Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Joey Barton and Lee Bowyer. Then when it comes to me I keep being told: ‘Dwight, you need more experience.’
“What’s the point in the Rooney Rule? I’m sure it should be implemented. What I find mind boggling is the percentage of black or mixed race players and I speak to so many guys trying to get coaching jobs and they can’t get those, let alone managerial jobs.
“I expected to hear back from them last time but it didn’t happen. But this is why I’m speaking out again to hopefully make the hierarchy listen and at least give me the courtesy so they can hear me out. Things happen for a reason and I hope this might be the time.
“If they don’t think I’m suited to the job or the right man, then I can accept that if I get an explanation and also some feedback to work from. I can accept that. But not to hear back from them again would leave me thinking all sorts.”
SOURCE: mirror.co.uk